


Forever and for Always

by VJR22_6



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: Gen, anyway this is a shockingly short au of what if lp had been there webbys whole life so, there are others but its mostly just them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-31 02:37:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052253
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VJR22_6/pseuds/VJR22_6
Summary: If Launchpad had lived a little closer to Webby when she was young, her world wouldn't have seemed so small.





	Forever and for Always

**Author's Note:**

> Ah, yes, the fic I started almost two months ago and totally spaced on. This is for you, Vinny, thank you for coming up with the idea. You are a favorite of mine.

Webby doesn’t quite remember her life before the mansion. There are a few faded memories, of warm hugs and her mother’s smile, and those she cherishes. But for the most part? All Webby’s ever known is the shadowed halls and quiet, tall ceilings, and a daily routine that hasn’t changed in years.

She does her lessons, progresses in her training, and reads, reads, reads. It’s the same, day after day, and she’s restless the longer she’s trapped doing the same things. Stories of adventures are always on her mind, and she knows Mr. McDuck used to travel the world. Why not anymore? Is the world not spectacular, and full of beautiful, wonderous things?

The mansion is big, but it will never be big enough for Webby’s wandering heart.

Moonrises and sunsets go by, and seasons change, but things stay the same on Killmotor Hill. Scrooge goes to his bin before Webby wakes, and comes back while she’s training, remaining a ghost in her life. Granny teaches her more and more advanced skills, preparing her for… nothing, and she’s just always ready for a fight that never comes.

And then Launchpad McQuack moves in.

When he meets her, he shakes her hand and grins down at her as if he’s met a small princess. She feels like she means something to him, really, and as she gets to know him over dinners the next few days, she makes a best friend. He’s kind, and not bright, but he’s gentle and good at listening. And, really, what more could a kid want?

He attends tea parties that Mr. McDuck and Granny never would, because around driving the limo, he really doesn’t do much. He has time to sit at the head of her bed, with her comfy and warm in his lap, and read stories to her. Sometimes he just tells stories of his own, of living with his family of star pilots or old flames with people the likes of which Webby hopes to meet someday.

The two of them spend scary nights of thunder and lightning in pillow forts, watching Launchpad’s favorite superhero show and playing pretend with Webby’s Quacky Patch doll. While he fixes up the limo’s crash damage, she sits in the driver’s seat and makes believe that she’s a spy in a high-speed chase. He takes her on walks in the mansion’s big garden, and she picks flowers for him to tuck in his fluffy red hair. He always does, too, and makes her laugh when they make him sneeze.

He greets her every day by throwing her in the air and spinning her, which makes her giggle and grin every time. Even as she grows bigger, he’s still strong enough to keep doing that. He’s always big enough to give her the best, softest hugs. Always willing to hoist her up onto his shoulders so she can reach cookies on the top shelf.

Always willing to love her, when busy others don’t have time.

Launchpad is there when the triplets arrive, and turn her world upside-down. He’s there to brush her hair out while she babbles about them, as they’re moving into one of many empty bedrooms. He’s there to keep the secrets she tells him about her and Dewey’s quest for Della. He’s there to comfort her when their half-built family falls apart, there to tuck her in the night that Scrooge calls her not-family and to reassure her that she will always be family to him. And then again for many nights afterward, until she is sure that yes, family they are, and family they always will be.


End file.
